The Democrat will not only become the first female Senator from the state, but also the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate.

While Baldwin acknowledges these firsts, she tells WISN 12 News' Nick Bohr that she is more interested in moving the nation forward than in her personal firsts.

"One of the things I said last night in my speech was I didn't run to make history, I ran to make a difference," Baldwin told WISN 12 News.

Her acknowledgment of both firsts drew loud cheers from the supporters at her victory party, but many voters on the WISN Facebook page said they will remember this race for three simple words: "You're damn right."

The phrase, uttered by Baldwin, was featured prominently in attack ads from Republican challenger Tommy Thompson and his supporters. Baldwin said she did not see the ads as often as the rest of the state.

"As a candidate, I hardly ever got a chance to watch television," she said. "I was not one of those watching those commercials, but boy did I hear about them."

She believes the tone of the campaign created a blow-back effect.

"Wisconsinites have wised up to those ads," she said. "We've had a lot of elections in Wisconsin in the last couple of years and a lot of that outside money has come in. I think people are asking why these outside people care about who is elected to this office or that."

Baldwin has spent most of her adult life in politics. She was first elected to the Dane County Board at age 24, just two years after she graduated from Smith College with a double major in political science and mathematics.

From there she was elected as the youngest woman ever to the state Assembly, at age 30. She served three terms before going to Congress in 1999. She was re-elected with more than 60 percent of the vote every two years since 2002.

Baldwin will finish her congressional term and then be sworn in as Wisconsin's 30th Senator on Jan. 3.